robertbartsch

What do people do when their LT headers are 4 inches from the pavement with factory spings?

What are the spring rates for a 99 SS F-body?

OldeSkool

http://www.angelfire.com/my/fastcar/suspension.html

Check that out... but be advised that not all info is totally accurate.. many springs amount of drop is understated.

But the rates are about 290 lb/in front and 114 lb/in rear on ls1 4th gens.

You can get lowering springs with higher rates and then lift them back up to near stock height by cutting donuts out of thick plywood and zip tying them to the top of the rear spring isolator. and by getting shock spacers for the front.. like those sold by bmr.

This is what I intend to do this winter. Strano springs with about a half inch lift all around. So that'll put me with nice spring rates and about a half to 3/4 inch drop.

Some LT's have better clearance than stock by the way.

Ironhead

Or you could get a Ground Control kit with whatever spring rate you want and set whatever ride height you want.

OldeSkool

which would cost a lot of money and is a pain to install and wont actually net you any performance gains over a strano/koni set up unless you went with the same rates or stiffer and had the ability to corner weight them properly.

Not saying its a bad way to go for some people... but it isn't the way to go for most people.

Ironhead

No, it's not the way to go with most people. But it's the way to go if you want increased performance without lowering the car.

The kit also offers something that a spring set does not... flexibility. You can run whatever ride height you want. You can very easily the height whenever you want. As your needs change, your spring rates can easily change as well (I'm about to change rates for the second time).

It isn't that expensive. Neither are the springs. I'm sure the total cost is more than a simple set of lowering springs though.

It really isn't that hard to install either. It took me far, far longer to make the tool (slotted and cut down an impact socket to use with a large vise grip) I needed than it did for me to perform the actual work. Removing the Koni hats was rather easy. I'll concede that based on what I've read, this is probably beyond a lot of people here.

I've not had the car on any sort of accurate scales but using some shade tree methods (large socket on the floor jack saddle and a level work surface) and some common sense, I've been able to get the corner weights pretty close. At one time it wasn't close at all so I do know what that feels like. Once again, I'll concede this is beyond a lot of people here.

Still, the question was asked. It's up to the reader to determine if it's for them.

OldeSkool

good points

another thing to point out is that ride height cannot just be changed ***** nilly. you'll need an alignment whenever you change heights.

FiredUpZ28

Wow I never realized my stock springs are pretty much all I need until my 60 foots start gettin a lot lower.

Ironhead

Meh, easy enough to do.

I do my own alignments on all three vehicles anyway. If your car is like most race cars, the camber is maxed and all you're really doing is resetting the toe.

On most street cars / trucks the camber is left alone (or not even adjustable) and all you're doing is setting the toe.

Again, I know this isn't for everyone but I've saved A LOT of money over the last couple years by doing it myself.